Pippin's First Love
by Carmen4
Summary: CHAPTER 10 Finally Up!! Pippin finds a girl who likes to raid fields and play tackle-ball, is it love? New deal, if you review, you get a Pippin plushie!
1. Diamond meets Pippin

Author's Note: Pip is about fifteen years old in this fic, making him even more adorable! Oh well, hope you enjoy, tell me if you want more!  
Pippin's First Love  
  
Diamond carefully stepped over the threshold of Farmer Maggot's corn field. She threw a nervous glance around as she plucked the ripe ears from the stalks and used her baggy shirt as a collection container. She walked out of the opposite end of the field stealthily and made way to her favorite tree. She looked around once more before scaling the tree. She set her precious treasures in the crook of the wide trunk and settled back to watch the sun go down.  
  
"HELLO!" shouted a voice. Diamond jumped in her skin and looked down towards the bottom of her perch. A small hobbit lad was standing there, smiling cheekily. "Wanna play a game?" he asked. She leaped down from her comfy spot to join in on a perfect game of tackle-ball. Didn't matter she was a young lass, she was currently on the young boy who had asked her to play's team, and they were winning. That was all that mattered.  
  
"Over here!" she yelled to a taller hobbit who frowned and sort of gently threw the ball at her. She snatched it from the air and started running. No boundries, no rules. Just tackle whoever is holding the ball. When you tackle them, they throw the ball to someone new. Usually someone on their team, persay, someone who didn't tackle them.   
  
"On your left!" came a shrill voice. The only other girl playing the game was limping after her, warning Diamond of the unknown peril ahead. She ducked to her right and scrambled up a tree to avoid the young, agile hobbit who was currently after her. He shimmied up the tree only to find she had jumped out and began to run back towards the stragglers. Someone else caught her and the game ended as all of the hobbits were called in for supper.  
  
"Ow. Ow. Ow." Diamond limped onto the road. The cheeky hobbit bounced up next to her.  
  
"You were great!" he said enthusiastically. "What are you doing tomorrow?" he raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Stealing more corn. Sleeping. Eating. Breathing. Getting beaten up by one of my eight brothers." she answered. He stopped and stared. "Can't you take a joke?" she questioned, taking her corn from her secret hiding place.  
  
"Oh. Yes. I love jokes." he said uncertainly. She pulled her baggy shirt up and piled the corn into it's folds. Pippin grabbed some and helped her carry it to her house. "You know, if you go to Farmer Maggot's crop tomorrow, about ten, Merry and I'll be there, if you want to help us lift some potatoes." Diamond laughed and gathered the corn he held into her shirt.  
  
"Ten? Okay, see you then." and with that, she closed the door leaving Pippin there to think about the way she had answered his question.  
  
"Why? Why would you ask a girl to come with us?!" Merry asked. He shook his head and hit Pippin on the head.  
  
"She must be real good to be able to plan to lift corn everyday of the week!" he protested.  
  
"If she's late, I swear Pippin, we're not waiting!" Merry said gruffly. He glance up, a young lass was standing in the road, hands on hips.  
  
"I suppose this is Merry." she said in a dubious tone.  
  
"Yup. Oh! I'm Pippin, didn't catch your name yesterday." Pippin said. She smiled.  
  
"Diamond. Oh we are going to have some fun today!" she grabbed the canvas bags Merry was holding and filled them with the mushrooms she had already found. Merry gaped and trottd after the two hobbits, she was going to be a good friend, Merry could feel it.  
Author's Note, Again: Okay, short but a true shot at hobbit youth, no high school, right? Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks. 


	2. The Dance

Author's Note: Wait a minute, I have a review! YAY! Maybe, I'll keep writing. o_O depends on how many people you can get to read this...  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Two  
Pippin's head peered around the edge of the corn field before nodding to Merry and Diamond. Diamond casually walked into the field rolling her eyes at the stealthy way Merry was attempting to get over the small fence. Diamond hopped over the fence and held her hand out sweetly to Merry who was perched precariously on the rickety old fence post.  
  
"Lay off." he grunted. He hopped over the fence and sneered at Diamond who was grinning smugly at the cousins. Once again she snatched the canvas bags from Merry's hands and began to binge vegetables before their very eyes.  
  
"Potatoe." she warned. She halted and dug up a small weed with a potatoe on the end of it. Soon the patch was about twenty potatoes shorter than it had been ten minutes earlier. They left just as cautiously as they had come and stowed their food in the crook of the tree in time to play some tackle ball.   
  
Diamond collapsed into the small patch of grass near the river. She sighed and began to chew on a strand of her hair and think. A small noise made her jerk her head towards the shore. Her eldest brother held Pippin by the neck about four inches from the ground. Pippin winced in pain as the elder shook him.  
  
"Who's he?" he asked commandingly. Diamond scrambled to her feet.  
  
"Nob! Drop him!" she screeched. He dropped the lad onto his hands and knees. "He's just a friend!" she whined. Nob shrugged and slumped off into the hole. Merry crept around the corner of the patch of grass.  
  
"Brilliant Pip, just brilliant." he shook his head. "Really. Didn't you listen when she warned us not to come in her front yard?" he frowned at the Took who was busy rubbing his red neck and wincing.  
  
"Coast was clear." he muttered. Diamond hauled the lad to his feet and shook her head.  
  
"I have eight brothers, and four younger sisters, my parents are dead. The coast will never be clear." she warned a little sadly. Merry glanced at his feet.  
  
"So. Are you going to May Sandyman's birthday party?" Merry asked.  
  
"Of course!" Diamond cried. "So is Estella. And Rosie." she looked at Merry a little funny. He raised his eyebrows. "You'll like Estella." she told him. Merry blushed and glanced at his feet again.  
  
"Well. Seeya tomorrow at her party then, we're invited too." Pippin shouted over his shoulder as he led Merry home. Diamond waved and sighed, she was going to have to set Merry and Estella up, so help her.  
  
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"Estella!" shouted Rosie seeing her friend talking to Diamond. "Come here!" The two travelled over to the table where Rosie sat, clutching onto Sam Gamgee's arm. He was blushing and trying not to blush anymore. Diamond giggled, she thought his head was going to boil over.   
  
"Say Estella, have you met Merry?" Diamond asked sweetly. Estella was caught off guard by this question.  
  
"Once, at a party down in Buckland." she told her friend. "Why?"   
  
"Because you're dancing with him. Right now." she said matter-of-factly. Estella's eyes went wide as Diamond leeched onto her arm and led her over to the table where Pippin was seated.  
  
"Where's Merry?" asked Diamond hastily. Pippin swallowed the food in his mouth.  
  
"Over there. Who's that?" he questioned, eyes curiously watching the nervous twitch in her face and eyes.  
  
"His date." Rosie said, jumping into the conversation. They led Estella over to the next table where Merry was being swamped by four lasses with some major weapons. They held onto his arms and one tried to kiss him.  
  
"Diamond!" Merry cried, relief evident in his voice. He watched the two girls he didn't know smirk at Diamond who was rolling her eyes at the hobbit trapped by the lasses armed with their lips and the fact they travel in packs.  
  
"Need some help?" she asked him sweetly. He nodded in defeat. She sighed and plunged a hand into the crowd of girls, yanked Merry out of the pack and promptly placed one hand in Estella's, and the other on her hip. She shoved them into the crowd. They looked uncertainly at each other and their friends standing out on the edge of the dancefloor.  
  
"Revenge is sweet!" he reminded her. He danced for three hours before approaching Pippin. "Hey, wanna find a date?" he asked his kin. Pippin nodded and looked around for a girl who wasn't dancing when Merry took his arm and led him over to where Diamond was pilfering a bottle of wine. She opened it and poored the drink into glasses for her friends and herself.  
  
"Diamond, care to dance?" Merry asked her in an devilish tone. She looked up slowly and saw the demonic smile on his face, and the adults seeing Pippin standing before a group of girls, terrified he might have to dance with someone he knew. He just prayed he wouldn't trip as she rose to her feet.  
  
"Promise you won't tell?" she asked Merry as she took Pippin's hands, referring to the sine she had stolen. He nodded and grinned.  
  
"Three dance minimum Diamond, or I might have to tell your brother." he blackmailed her onto the dancefloor. She sneered but she found herself out there for seven dances instead of just three. Pippin did nothing but watch his feet as they danced. She reached out and tilted his face up towards hers and smiled.   
  
"Hey. I'll sacrifice saving my feet to teach you how to dance." she offered.   
  
"That'd be great Diamond!" he said excitedly. For six more dances she taught him how to count in his head and to watch his feet more discreetly. By the end of the night, they were bothed dead tired.   
  
"Too tired to make it home." she said to no one in particular. Pippin took her arm and began to lead her home when she stopped and sat down on the ground. "Estella's house is closer." she told Pippin. He nodded and took her arm once more, flagging down Merry they got her to Estella's before she fell asleep walking.  
  
"Merry. Be a dear and tell Nob that Diamond is spending the night, would you?" Estella's mother asked the hobbit before her.  
  
"Of course Mrs. Bolger!" he trudged off towards Diamond's home with Pippin at his side. Pippin knocked on the door of the hole and yawned.  
  
"WHERE IS SHE!?" screamed Nob when he wrenched the door open. Merry and Pippin retreated backward into the shadows before speaking.  
  
"She was too tired to make it home, so Mrs. Bolger sent us to tell you she's staying at Estella's house tonight." Pippin said quietly. Nob snarled in disgust and slammed the door.   
  
"Speaking of sleeping, where are we going?" Merry asked his cousin as they walked back out to the road.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe we'll just sleep in the field outside the Chubb's house." Pippin suggested. And so they did. They were too far from Pippin's house to walk and make it before the sun came up.  
  
"Wake up!" came an alarmed voice. A sharp kick in the side awoke Pippin, as for Merry, he was still snoring on the ground. Pippin shook Merry and glanced up at his hobbit sized alarm clock.   
  
"Diamond! Please, what time is it?" he whined and rubbed his eyes. Merry groaned and sat up groggily. He glared at Diamond who glared back.  
  
"Don't give me that look Meriadoc. Oh, it's noon." she said, flipping her hair and glaring at Merry some more.   
  
"NOON!?" cried Pippin. He scrambled to his feet and looked around. The shade of the tree had kept the sun's rays from awakening the hobbits until someone intervened.  
  
"Yessir. And if you don't get out of there soon, I do believe Mr. Chubb will capture first, and ask questions later." she told the two groggy lads. They scrambled out of the shade and into the bright sunlight. A short walk later revealed the river was rising again. Much to the distress of the hobbits nearby the river, they didn't swim. Merry smiled and turned towards Diamond, detirmined to beat her at something.  
  
"If you want to prove yourself worthy of our company," Diamond rolled her eyes but let him continue. "you must swim across the river." he didn't realize the impact of the words. She gulped and nodded.  
  
"When?" she asked, voice shaking.  
  
"Tomorrow." he told her. 


	3. The Dare

Author's Note: Got another review! YAY!  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Three  
The night was chilly and dry as Diamond snuck out her window to the river for her "initiation" as Merry called it. She couldn't stop the uncontrollable shivering, and though she hated to admit it, Diamond knew it wasn't because of the chilly breeze. She berated herself with things she'd heard in her seventeen years in the Shire about swimming. She couldn't think of a single thing that would help her tonight, after dark was the only thing she could remember. After dark, you don't swim. She sighed as she saw the two figures ahead of her, one perched cockily on the bridges railing.  
  
"You're late." Merry said with a grin. She couldn't see it, but oh she could hear it.  
  
"I suggest you check your watch." she replied hotly. The moon dipped beneath a cloud making the dark appear eternal. Diamond shivered again and watched to find out exactly what it was she had to do.  
  
"You don't have to do this." Pippin's voice said hopefully. Diamond shook her head gravely.  
  
"Yes. I do, Pippin."   
  
"Right. First you gotta get out of yer clothes, so ya won't sink, then you jump in." Merry instructed. Diamond nodded and waited until the moon was behind another cloud before she undressed. The two cousins were situated so they wouldn't see the young lass undress. The splash was the only way they knew they could watch. It was a quiet splash accompanied by a shrill squeal of terror.   
  
"Cold!" shrieked the girl in the water. "How long do I have to stay in here?" she demanded. She was afraid of what lurked in the shallows of the river as well as the depths.  
  
"Not that easy, Diamond," Merry said, disappointed she had even gone in. "You have you swim across the river and touch the opposite bank. Then you can come back." he commanded. The moon came out from behind it's shadowy cover, revealing Diamond's sillouette. She was up to her neck in the water, her hands gripped around her body for warmth. She took a deep shuddering breath and plunged beneath the fast moving current. It tugged at her but she continued her clumsy paddle until she resurfaced for air. When she touched the opposite bank and began her retreat from the awful water she began to drift downstream. She was tiring and beginning to sink further and further into the water. Water rushed to greet her hungry lungs instead of air. She touched the back she sought and felt two sets of hands yank her out. She gasped for breath only to feel a dizzying affect take place. She couldn't breathe, let alone pull herself onto the bridge, so who was?  
  
Her eyes rolled crazily in her head, trying desperately to find something to help her breathe. When the hands covered her bare body with a blanket and tilted her face up towards the moon, she almost lost her hold on life. The water pressed painfully in her lungs, preventing her from thinking rationally. She began to panic and thrash about. In her frenzy she remembered seeing Pippin's worried face, and Merry's alarmed wringning of hands. The last thing she expected was Pippin pressing his hands on her chest to force the water out. She used up the last of her strength to help him.   
  
"Merry, help!" Pippin cried, seeing Diamond's eyes snap shut, and her struggling cease. He tilted her face upwards once more before planting his mouth over her lips, forcing air into her lungs. He pressed on her lungs, insisting the water come out and allow her to breathe. Merry crouched down on the muddy planks of the bridge and flipped Diamond onto her stomach. Pippin smacked her on the back repeatedly. She coughed, once, twice, then let out a shuddering intake of breath. A small sigh of relief issued from all three mouths. Diamond pressed her hand on the floor of the bridge, wrapping the towel around her wet, bare body. Before she left, the thing they all remember best that night, the night of her initiation, was the slap marks on Merry's face, that would stay for weeks to come.  
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"Estella, you better KNOCK some sense into that boy, I swear." said Diamond the next day, her voice very hoarse from the water intake. Estella and Rosie laughed hysterically.  
  
"You can't really expect us to believe that you swam the Brandywine River, at midnight. And that Pippin and Merry had to knock the air into you, do you?" Rosie asked contemptuously. Diamond nodded, drinking her tea sullenly. She slapped the cup down with fervor as she spoke.  
  
"I don't remember a lot of it, only that Merry and Pippin yanked me out of the water, and you know I wasn't wearing any clothes. Well, when I did start remembering things, I just knew Merry had it coming." Diamond motioned with her hand the slap she planted on his left cheek. Estella and Rosie let out fresh peels of laughter, this time Diamond joined them.  
  
"Mayhap, we seek out the two troublemakers and ask them ourselves." Estella suggested. Rosie nodded enthusiastically and pulled the two out into the busy road. They had been inside the bar where Rosie worked, helping her clean up for a day at the market.  
  
"Where would they be?" Rosie asked Diamond. Diamond tried to look flabbergasted.  
  
"What makes you think I know?" she questioned, trying to sound annoyed. Rosie placed a hand on her hip.  
  
"You of all people should know where Pippin is, to say the least." she threw at the lass who's hair was still wet. Diamond refused to let herself blush, of course she found an alternive. She gave in to the comment.  
  
"Raiding fields most likely." she muttered, hoping they didn't hear her. Moments later she was being dragged to Farmer Maggot's field where they sat down just outside the corn stalks.  
  
"Now what?" Estella asked impatiently. Rosie smile at her friends.  
  
"Now, we wait." she told them triumphantly. Hours went by without incident and just as Rosie herself was about to suggest going in for elevensies, a loud bark issued from deep within the stalks.  
  
"Left Pip! Left!" came a voice at their right. Soon two hobbits burst through the corn field wall. A moment of surprise froze time before Merry and Pippin siezed the girls' arms and dragged them off to the nearest tree. Diamond didn't have to be told twice. She scrambled up the tree in a sort of second nature. Estella and Rosie clung to the lower branches, trying to get up higher. Pippin and Merry managed to haul them up to their level before the dogs came. They barked crazily for five minutes before leaving for home, beaten by the five terrified hobbits in the tree.  
  
"You guys really need a battle plan." announced Diamond. She hopped down from her perch, landing gracefully at the foot of the immense trunk.  
  
"Diamond! The dogs are still there!" Merry wailed. He watched in amazement as she pulled some dried meat from her jumper pocket and gave it to the dogs, cooing soothing words. She told them to go home, it was just her taking a shortcut and soon the dogs were off again, homeward bound.  
  
"Like I said, you need a battle plan." she said again, helping Rosie and Estella down from their branch.  
  
"So did you guys really try to drown Diamond?" Rosie asked rather rudely. Pippin toppled out of the tree but managed to land on his butt. He pulled a carrott from his pocket and began to nibble it nervously.  
  
"We didn't try to drown her, she was tired from the swim and the ungodly hour Merry chose." Pippin insisted. He still hadn't met Diamond's eyes, whether in shame or something more, she didn't know.  
  
"She didn't have to come." Merry muttered after he toppled down next to Pippin.  
  
"Ha!" Diamond snorted at the downcast look in his eyes. Her gaze shifted over to the horrific red marks on his cheek. She snorted again.  
  
"Well, what happened?" demanded Estella. Diamond opened her mouth to say she'd already told them but Merry beat her to it. They all sat down and listened to his version of the story.  
  
"Well first of all I told Diamond if she'd be coming with us to raid the field and such, she'd have to prove herself. She'd have to swim across the Brandywine at midnight. When she came she started to swim across and she made it there okay, but on the way back she got tired, from what I can tell. Anyway, she touched the shore, signifying that she passed. When she didn't pull her face outta the water, Pippin insisted we pull her out." Merry's cheeks reddened. "She wasn't wearing anythin' so I covered her up in a blanket. Pippin noticed she was blue and not breathing so he started to push the water out. That didn't start to work until he put air in first so-" Merry tried to continue when Diamond stood up, red as a beet.  
  
"He did what?" she demanded, her face blazing like flame, Pippin's was to match. He didn't even look at her, he only winced as Merry made his explaination.  
  
"He blew air into your lungs. He had to Diamond, you would've died!" Merry insisted. He watched her go very pale and touch her lips. She looked at Pippin who's face was buried under his arms. Rosie giggled and tried to stifle the guffaws that were building. The only part of Pippin's face you could see was his red forehead. The space between Pippin and Diamond seemed to grow, though she was looking at him interestedly.  
  
"Righty then, continue." she instructed, her face reddening again.  
  
"Okay, then we flipped you onto your stomach and pounded until the water came out. You started coughing so we left you alone. Then," he touched his cheek tentatively. "you left." he ended.  
  
Pippin yanked his face out of his arms and stood up, walking on the road back towards Hobbiton. Diamond lurched to her feet following him.  
  
"Pippin! Wait!" she called, leaving the others behind. He walked faster, face turning red again. She latched onto his arm and spun him around. His eyes were pinched shut as if doing so would block out the words she would scald him with.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry." he sputtered. He tried to pull away when she yanked his arm down further, so that she was holding his hand in her's.  
  
"For what?" she asked, also red. He tried not to sing for joy, she wasn't mad!  
  
"For well...doing that I guess." he tried. She smiled but remained her lovely blush.  
  
"Let me get this straight, you're sorry for saving my life?" she raised an eyebrow. He nodded and blushed deeper. She touched his cheek lightly.  
  
"I guess so." he mumbled. They were in the middle of the road, quite a spectacle. Both were red as beets, and not looking into each other's eyes. Anyone but them would've known they liked eachother.  
  
"Please, don't be. Are you going back?" she asked urgently. He nodded and frowned at her nervous twitter. "Do me a favor then." she demanded softly. He nodded again and watched her eyes for a clue. "Don't tell them about this." she whispered and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 


	4. The Diary

Author's Note: Taking it slow, I think. o_O I hope.  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Four  
Diamond waited until she thought Pippin couldn't see her anymore before whirling around and trying not to scream with happiness. ~I kissed him! Oh my gosh!~ she could hardly hold it in as she thought these words. When she skipped inside her hole Nob raised a questioning eyebrow.   
  
"What's so great as to make Diamond of Long Cleeve skip about?" he asked. Diamond couldn't believe what came out of her mouth. No words, just mindless giggling. She didn't like when Nob referred to her as Diamond of Long Cleeve though. She was from there, but they had moved to Hobbiton for a good reason, Diamond didn't want to move back. She knew that look in Nob's eye though.  
  
"Oh no. Nob," she giggled again. ~CALM DOWN~ her mind commanded. "We're not going to move back are we?" Nob's face fell at her sad features.  
  
"Uncle Holman died and left us his farm. You know how big it is! We are moving there next week. I suggest you go make your goodbyes because we're going to be busy all week starting tomorrow." Nob announced. He stood up and left the table, his tea cup still half full. Diamond gawked openly at her brother's irritated exit. She felt tears prick at her eyes, was she not just thinking about how much she wanted to stay here and never return to Long Cleeve? Alas, now she would have to say goodbye to Rosie, Estella, Merry. And Pippin. She thought angrily about how giddy she'd been, she should have seen this coming!   
  
"I need my diary!" she cried out to her empty room in which she found herself in when she opened her tightly clamped eyes. She wrenched her diary oout of her dresser and wrote until her hand ached and the pages were wet with tears. She fell asleep with exhaustion and awoke with a start hours later. She must go and say goodbye to her friends, now! She jumped out of her bed and taking her diary with her, walked to Estella's, then Rosie's, then to Pippin's. Paladin Took answered the door. Diamond curtsied politely at Pippin's father before speaking.  
  
"Pardon me sir, I was wondering if Merry or Pippin were home?" she asked sweetly. He frowned at the three lasses at the door.  
  
"Which one do ya want?" he questioned, suspicious.  
  
"Both, if they are both available." Diamond crowed at the hobbit before her. He shouted over his shoulder into the house. Before long, Pippin and Merry were outside the house, panting and smiling.  
  
"What brings you here?" Merry asked, more to Estella then to anyone else. Diamond cleared her throat, catching their attention.  
  
"Could we go to the clearing please?" she begged her friends, she didn't want strangers seeing her sob as she said goodbye to all the people who she'd lived with for two years. True she'd only met Pippin and Merry a few weeks ago, but they were as close as friends got.  
  
Pippin watched her sad gait as she led them all to the clearing out in the woods near her hole. Her eyes were red and swollen, as if she'd been crying. Whatever git made her cry, Pippin promised he'd pummel. He watched her walk slowly towards the end of their small journey, the first tear he'd seen roll down her cheek. He felt only concern and admiration for this lass before him as she fell softly into the grass in the clearing.  
  
"Diamond, dear me what's wrong?" Rosie asked, worried of her friend's appearence. Tears she had shed left stains on her diary pages and leather cover. Diamond laughed and threw the precious book high into the air, not caring who read it's pages, she cared not, her life had ended as she knew it. Long Cleeve was so far away! She would be back in her old home, where memories of her parents plagued her and her brother's friends courted her. She wanted no part of it, she wanted to stay and live a simple life.  
  
"What's that?" Pippin asked. He'd seen them before, his sisters all had one, a book they scribbled in and giggled about when Pippin brought friends or his father's company brought another girl over.   
  
"A diary, don't you be reading it, Peregrin Took! Girls record things in there that no one should be able to read, not even their parents!" Merry exclaimed. He smacked Pippin's hand away from the leather bound cover. Diamond let out a spiteful laugh.  
  
"Go on and read it! I care not. I am leaving next Saturday, not likely I will ever return." she said, her voice full of malice. Pippin gingerly picked up the book. First he skimmed through the pages until coming to that day's.  
  
Her neat handwriting had become ragged and angry.  
  
"August 22 of the third age  
Why must Nob insist on moving back to Long Cleeve? I hate it there! I hate it! I have finally begun to make new friends and meet new people when Nob decided he wants a bigger farm. Oh who shall I miss most? I kissed Pippin today, he saved my life! I realized how much I liked him from when he first asked me to play tackle-ball and to help raid that field. Ah how life was simple! Now my life is in shambles, I need a shoulder to cry on. I must say my goodbyes and live on without those big green eyes and kind smile! Oh agony I must endure! Why me? Why must I live this life? I wish to be anyone but me right now. Though I still want to be Diamond. For he likes Diamond, and all that I care is that when I come of age, he is still mine. Whatever comes between, he's still going to be mine. "   
  
The ink stained the pages so bad here Pippin could not distinguish smudge from letters. He wiped away they feeling of immense happiness that she liked him long enough to think the situation through. She buried her face in her hands and sighed, her tears unshed in her eyes, dangerously close to brewing over. Estella took the diary from him, Rosie reading it over her shoulder. They gasped and hugged their friend dearly. Merry took the diary from them and distinguished more of the smudges from the ink.  
  
" Never even thought about Merry and Estella. He's moving back down to Buckland this coming fall. Oh how I hate change! Merry has very kind heart, though very different towards me. Feels a bit infringed upon I suppose. Oh happy life, why must thee end so soon? Oh bright green hills and knolls, I know I shall miss you! Life shan't be the same without him or you. My life has ended in so many ways, but why now? Why now?"   
  
No more was there to be read. He glanced up at Diamond, her friends piled around her, trying to comfort her. She let out strangled cries of sadness, trying to appear more brave. The heartbreak, she knew was soon to come. He had read her thoughts, her deepest most innermost thoughts. Now he knew, she was leaving and she liked him more than the air and trees of the Shire. She could have said three words to express her feelings then, but for her, it wasn't enough.  
  
Pippin watched in silence. He wanted more than anything to tell her the same, it would be torture without her there, he missed her and liked her. He wanted a moment alone with her, to talk. Estella and Rosie looked at the setting sun, and with small cries of pain and sorrow they departed. Merry watched Pippin observe the sun, they were late. He glared at Merry who turned on his heel and left the clearing immediately.  
  
"Why now?" Diamond asked herself. Pippin moved closer and put an arm around her shoulders. She sighed and put her head on his chest, under his chin, hardly believing he was holding her. He kissed the top her head and spoke softly in her ear.  
  
"Long Cleeve isn't that far away, my family goes there for harvest festivals, I can bring Estella and Rosie if you want!" he assured her. She sighed and felt a great weight off her shoulders. She knew Estella and Rosie's parents would never let them venture all the way to Long Cleeve with the Tooks. Respectable as they were, they were strange. She allowed herself to believe his every word.  
  
"Keep my diary. I want you to have it, until you come to see me." she told him. He nodded and looked into her sorrowful eyes. She was so beautiful and perfect, he didn't know how anyone could cause her pain. He kissed her cheek lightly, trying to be subtle. She sighed and moved her lips to his, relishing the way she fit in his arms, and the way he held her to him. Like he never wanted to let go, in case she was stolen from him. They stayed this way for what seemed like mere moments, but in reality, was more like minutes. A distant cry from her hole brought them apart. Both blushed and leaped to their feet.   
  
"I'll see if there's something I can do tomorrow to help, I guess." Pippin tried not to look at his feet. Diamond looked at the dirt in the clearing and nodded.  
  
"Yes. That would be nice. Thank you, Pippin." she cleared her throat and pressed the diary into his hand. He watched her slow but steady gallop to her warm, cozy hole. The sigh he issued was that of great devotion and love. She was more than a friend now, and he wasn't sad to see that friendship die. 


	5. One More Day

Author's Note: Another party! I've decided that hobbits love to party and get down just as much as us. Right. Okay. Yup.  
Disclaimer: Wow! First one I've ever written! Though I'm sure you SMART, BEAUTIFUL, people out there would assume I do not own anything but the parties I invent. J.R.R. Tolkien was a genius, I admire him greatly.  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Five  
Diamond leapt into her window and into her bed. She couldn't stop thinking about him. She needed her diary more than anything right now. So much for her first date, she was so happy though. She couldn't stop smiling as she tried to sleep or squealing just as she thought she was drifting off. Meanwhile in Pippin's hole, he was getting a sound yelling from Paladin.  
  
"Who do you think you are? Staying out past curfew! I hope you don't have plans tomorrow, Peregrin Took!" he shoved Pippin into his room and slammed the door. Merry sighed and leaped down from his top bunk.  
  
"I couldn't think of a decent excuse, sorry Pip." he apologized. Pippin was dazed from the encounter in the clearing. Merry looked into his eyes, he was silent, yet screaming out clues. Merry frowned and waved a hand in front of Pippin's face. He didn't move an inch. "Hello?" Merry asked Pippin, concerned for a moment. Pippin jerked his head towards Merry and blushed.  
  
"Sorry." he muttered then crawled into the bed with a lantern.  
  
"Pippin, what happened?" he questioned. Pippin waved him off and pulled Diamond's diary from his jacket pocket. He bagan to read that day's entry over and over again. Merry walked over to Pippin's bed and snatched the book from his hands.  
  
"Peregrin Took! What happened?" he was worried now, he didn't know why. Pippin snarled at his cousin and leapt out of the bed.  
  
"Give that back!" he screamed. Merry held it above his younger cousin's head and asked him the same question, more calmly this time. Pippin told him he'd tell Merry if he'd give him back the diary. Merry shrugged and dropped the diary into his hands. The doorhandle began to turn, Pippin hurled the book under his bed.  
  
"Peregrin, come out." Paladin Took's voice boomed into the room. Pippin walked out of the room sullenly and looked up at his father. "You too Merry, come on." he sounded very tired.   
  
"Now. What happened that made you so late?" Paladin tried to ask again. The cousins sat down at the kitchen table, away from Pippin's mother and sisters. Pippin just shrugged and looked out the window. Merry sighed and began to tell what he knew happened. He knew it might get him off the hook if he told the truth.  
  
"Diamond is moving away so we might never see her again. She's moving to Long Cleeve near Noth Farthing, you see she was just coming by to tell us without attracting a spectacle. She was very sad." he added seeing Paladin's eyebrows go up on the word spectacle. "Estella, Rosie, Pippin, and me. That's all." Merry tried to sound like they all left late.  
  
"I saw Rosie and Estella leave, then just you came in the house. Pippin? What were you doing?" his father sounded worried now. Pippin knew he had to answer now.  
  
"Talking to her for a minute alone. That's all." He didn't meet his father's eyes as he said this though. Paladin's eyes flashed and he stood up.  
  
"You better start telling the truth my boy or you'll be inside with yer sisters the rest of the summer!" he roared. Pippin winced and sighed, feeling defeated.  
  
"She kissed me." he muttered. He was bright red again. All of his sisters were crouched behind the sofa in the living room, listening to the conversation in the kitchen, fighting not to giggle.  
  
"What?" Merry asked, girls didn't just do that here in the Shire. Not just one of them anyway. He remembered when Diamond saved him from the pack of girls at the dance.  
  
"I kissed her back." he muttered even more quietly. The erruption of laughter behind the sofa was amazing. Four girls tumbled out of the small space, all laughing and trying not to be sat on.  
  
"So. Been out kissing the girls, have you?" Paladin roared at his blushing son. Pippin looked up at him and wondered what his answer should be. He didn't have time. His father picked him up by his collar and carried him to the sowing room. His mother was busy fixing a quilt and looked up as they entered. She saw the way Paladin was holding his son and looked up at him dangerously.  
  
"Put him down, Paladin." she seethed. It was a repeat of the day when Nob caught Pippin looking for Diamond. He fell on all fours and gasped for air. Paldin looked at him with mild disgust.  
  
"Not even twenty yet Pippin." he said to his son, glaring at his wife who was looking thoughtfully at the heap on the floor.  
  
"Peregrin honey, what happened?" she asked, yanking to his feet. He glared at his father for a moment before retelling most of the story to his mother. She nodded and frowned a few times. Then Paladin stepped in to end the story.  
  
"Yes and after he left, our son here stayed to-" Merry leaped in the room and dragged Paladin away, making a phony excuse that the girls were making a ruckus in their room and he couldn't sleep.  
  
"To what?" Pippin's mother asked him gently. Pippin blushed again and sat down, not wanting to be knocked down by his father when he returned.  
  
"Just a goodbye kiss Mum. No need to get worked up about." he said softly. He watched a small smile spread over her face. She shook her head.  
  
"No such thing as a no big deal kiss to a tweenager, Peregrin. You will find that out, now off to bed with you!" she said, hoping he would avoid his father long enough to get to sleep.  
  
"Thanks Mum! Can I go out tomorrow, I promised I'd help her pack up to leave." he looked at her hopefully. She smiled again.  
  
"Best leave when your father's not looking and I can truthfully not tell him where you were going." she informed him. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. He walked out of the room and into his, almost leaping in the air to whoop with happiness.  
  
"So. You were out kissing the girls, huh Pip?" Merry asked him. Pippin grunted and sat on his bed again.  
  
"I'm nineteen, that's pretty close to twenty, enough not to worry about, right?" he asked his cousin. Merry sighed. The rule in the house was no dating until the age of twenty.   
  
"The point is, that wasn't a date, she's not twenty, and we've got other things to worry about than girls!" he cried. Pippin shook his head.  
  
"You just wait until Estella kisses you." he challenged. Merry managed not to blush as he thought of this. "Besides, I have things to tell you!" he whispered. Merry leaned into the bed and sat down. Pippin looked so awake, how he managed to at that hour was unbelievable.  
  
"It wasn't the first one today." he told Merry. Merry gawked at Pippin and smiled. "She tried not to let me feel bad about the whole water thing so she kissed me, just on the cheek. I guess we figgered we wouldn't be seeing much of each other over the next week." he said more to himself than to Merry. Merry just shook his head and looked at the dreamy look on his cousin's face.  
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Diamond watched the clouds drift over the moon for an hour or so before falling into a deep slumber. She awoke to Nob's never-ending shouting for everyone to get up. Diamond groaned and picked herself out of her bed. She had slept in her clothes. She changed and walked into the regular chaos of breakfast. The grab-what-you-could-off-the-table-before-you-were-checked-into-the-wall-by-one-of-your-siblings everyday routine she loved. She walked outside to watch the sun rise above the trees. Nob put a hand on her shoulder and smiled.  
  
"Well, we're finally gonna get started packing." he said. She sighed and pushed his hand off her shoulder.  
  
"Do you really need a lot of my help today?" she asked, trying to sound subtle. He looked at her suspiciously and nodded.  
  
"Yes, but not a lot. You'll probably be watching your sisters more than hauling heavy things." he informed her. Diamond sighed and looked at the rising sun happily.   
  
"Oy! Diamond, come here and help me with this!" one of her brothers yelled. She pulled her hair clip out of her dress pocket and messily threw her hair on top of her head. She pinched the hair to her head and trotted inside. Matteus was packing her books into various wooden crates and was dropping one. "These are yours! You load them onto the pony!" he whined and put the crate down. It tipped over, spilling her books everywhere. She sighed and began to pick them up again. Sometimes she felt like a loner in her own family.   
  
She was the only one that could read, write, and now, swim in her entire family of thirteen. She looked at the shadow of Nob tower over the doorway and talk to someone outside. The shadow moved aside, and a smaller one entered. Then another.  
  
"Need some help?" asked a cocky voice she knew. She looked up and saw Merry and Pippin standing above her. She nodded at them and hauled the crate upright. They began to pile books inside, some where so fat you could only pick up two or three at a time. Some map books were there as well. When that crate was full Merry and Pippin carried it to the cart outside and returned to help Diamond finish. They followed her into her tidy room and over to her closet. She opened it and brought back another crate. More books littered the interior, on the floor, shelves, and some in the hanging pockets of the dresses. She collected them all and hauled that crate out to the cart as well.  
  
"Wow, she's got a miniture library." Pippin muttered. He looked at her bed, it didn't seem to sit quite right of the floor. When Nob and Matteus carried her bed out to the cart, they gaped again. Even more of those heavy books were under her bed, covered in dust and spiders.  
  
"Well, how else is a girl supposed to learn about the outside world?" she asked them and smiled. She carried in a large trunk and set it down in front of the pile. "Let's get cracking." she commanded. They stacked, piled, and set all the books under the bed into that trunk. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and grinned at the two.  
  
"Now that all my physical labor is done, are you ready to encounter the other half?" she challenged.  
  
"You better believe it. Pippin's not going to get me up at nine o' clock to stack books without a second half." Merry said in an amused voice. She shook her head and led the two unsuspecting victims to the playroom. When she opened the door, four figures hurtled out and latched themselves onto the lads and onto Diamond.  
  
"TAG!" one hollered, they all leapt away from Merry, who was looking at his captor in a confused way.  
  
"What?" he asked Diamond. Diamond giggled and wrenched her younger sister off him.  
  
"Do you wanna play?" she asked Pippin. He nodded and smiled then elbowed Merry.  
  
"How about you?" Pippin asked.  
  
"How do you play?" he questioned nervously. Diamond smiled and glanced at the hopeful children before her.  
  
"Someone is 'it' they run around and try to tag someone else, when they do, the person they tagged is 'it.'" she explained. Merry grinned and nodded.  
  
"Who's gonna start?" he inquired his friends. The one who had been attached to him giggled.  
  
"You are! I tagged you!" she yelled. Diamond edged away from Merry, then broke into a full run. The room was enormous and bare. All the play things were gone but with four little girls, tag could last for hours. Merry looked around, Pippin was also running from him, a troop of little girls giggling and chasing him. Merry took off at a full sprint, chasing Pippin and trying not to step on anyone. Seeing the way Diamond was keeping exactly halfway across the room from him at all times, Merry turned and chased her for a change, more fun, less kids. She saw him coming and dove away as he ran towards the wall, she hit the ground and rolled to her feet. She continued to run as if nothing had happened. Merry saw she was dizzy though and managed to corner her. He reached out and tagged her arm, panting and smiling.  
  
"You're it." he rasped out. She grinned and caught her breath. She whirled around in a flurry of dress and took off after Pervinca, her oldest sister. Pervinca squealed and ran in between Pippin's legs, caught off guard, Pippin nearly tripped over the young lass. The only objecct in the room was a water basin, full of cool, clean water. Pippin felt his feet fall out from under him and just as he neared the water basin. Diamond's hand whipped out of nowhere and pulled him back from the near disaster.  
  
"You're it." she said and turned to run. Pervinca darted in between Diamond's legs endless times to avoid Pippin, but neither ever fell. Diamond plopped onto the floor moments later to rest and call a time-out when Pervinca came screaming around a corner.  
  
"Eep!" she cried and lunged into Diamond's arms. Pippin hopped around the corner holding his shin and laughing.  
  
"What happened?" Diamond asked. Merry came around the corner as well, laughing very hard.  
  
"You should've seen it!" Merry wailed with laughter. "Pippin snuck up on her and when she turned around she kicked him right in the shin!" Pippin howled with laughter and leaned against the far wall. He looked at his shin, it was developing a bruise but it was nothing to be worried about. He'd had many more scratches before. He hopped over to the circle of girls and sat down across from Diamond. He shook his head and laughed again.  
  
"More fun than trouble's worth." he repeated the well known idiom to her. Diamond laughed as well and scowled at Pervinca.  
  
"Why'd you kick Pippin?" she asked her younger sister. Pervinca stuck her nose up in the air and snorted.  
  
"I thought he was a monster." she said as if it were obvious. Luaghter from the three older hobbits echoed out of the playroom to Nob's ears. He frowned and followed his ear to the playroom door. He peered inside, and watched the game restart. Pervinca was "it" and chasing Rosa, her younger sister in a tight circle. Merry, Pippin, and Diamond were standing in a row by the far wall.  
  
"Nob! Join us!" Diamond called out. Nob smiled but shook his head, he didn't have time for children's games. He looked at Pippin closely and observed his movements. He was very playful and open but a little to open in Nob's opinion. He lightly punched Diamond on the arm to catch her attention and both made fun of her as a joke.  
  
"Come on Diamond! You can't expect us to treat you like a girl after you raid fields and played tackle-ball, can you?" Merry asked, irritated. She snorted.  
  
"I had to prove myself, didn't I?" she replied coolly.  
  
"Diamond! Come on!" Lily, her youngest sister cried. "Catch me!" she ran to her sisters' aid and soon it was a simple game of "don't let Diamond catch you." But Diamond wasn't going to play this way for long, she siezed Lily and tickled her for a while before her sisters came to her rescue.  
  
"Merry! Help us!" Pervinca begged, pulling on his sleeve. He smiled evilly at Pippin and hauled him up to his feet as well. They managed to pry Diamond off her sister long enough to pin her to the ground. The wrestling began. Pippin watched for a minute as Merry held her head under his arm and tried to press her head down to the ground. Diamond spun herself around and put her arm under Merry's chin, pinning him to the ground. She smiled sweetly and sighed.  
  
"Battle plan Merry! What will you have learned from me if not that?" she asked him before leaping up to her feet. Merry laughed and sat up rubbing his neck.  
  
"This isn't Farmer Maggot's field, Diamond." he reminded her. She sighed and looked out the playroom window. At this rate they would leave by Tuesday. Four days, not seven to live here in Hobbiton.   
  
"Battle plan for life." she told him. He rolled his eyes and looked at Pippin. He was looking thoughtfully at his feet and humming.  
  
"So, what's going on tonight?" she asked, relieved Nob had let her friends over. Pippin looked up to Diamond's face.  
  
"Autumn Solstice. Big party over at the Goodbodies' house." he said. Merry hit his head and cried out fakely.  
  
"Oh wow! I forgot about that! Pip, who're you taking?" Merry tried not to look at Diamond or Pippin too closely. They were already blushing, he didn't need to embarass them anymore.  
  
"I dunno." he said quietly. "I guess it depends on who goes." he was studying his feet again. Merry struggled not to smile.  
  
"I bet Diamond's going, aren't you?" he tried to get his point across bluntly. She grunted and stood up.  
  
"I suppose I'll ask." she muttered and skittered down the hall. Merry turned towards Pippin, surprised to see his face angry.  
  
"What're you doing?" he hissed.   
  
"Just trying to get you to have a date for the Solstice party, that's all." Merry replied hotly. "Excuse me for trying to help." Pippin snorted into his arms and looked up again.  
  
"Please, don't get my hopes up." he begged. Merry shook his head and looked away. Diamond thumped down the stairs and bounced to her space in between all her sleeping sisters.  
  
"Nob says we're going but I'll be busy with these four." she said, glaring at her sisters. The second oldest, Mirabella, rolled over and sighed, they looked peaceful now, but later when they were well rested...  
  
"Malva Goodbody loves children, you could dump them off with her." Merry suggested. He was not going to live another two weeks with Pippin if he was going to be all mopey. Merry reasoned that if he got them together enough before they left, then Pippin wouldn't be so sad when she was gone. Bad judge of character.  
  
"I suppose." Diamond said softly. She was happy to go with Pippin but she could sense some reluctance. She didn't know what the dance was going to be like, she guessed it would be like the last one. A thought hit her like a rock.  
  
"And who is young Mister Brandybuck going with?" she asked pleasantly. He frowned and blushed.  
  
"I don't know." he muttered. She smiled and pulled them to their feet.   
  
"Well then, we'll just have to find you one. I know who'd love to do it." she said diabolically. Then she scurried over to the nearest window. She jumped up into the window and scooted through. Merry and Pippin followed hesitently. She was heaped at the bottom of a window side garden, pulling her dress out of a rose bush. She was wearing lad's breeches under her dress so she could run a little more recklessly. She untangled her dress and brushed herself off. Pippin and Merry thudded to the ground next to her. They left in a stealthy group for Estella's house.   
  
"Estella! Get up!" Diamond whispered into Estella's open window. Estella groaned and threw a pillow at her. "It's me, Diamond!" Diamond cried, hoping this would wake her up. Indeed. Estella jerked her head up and looked about wildly. She saw Diamond in her window and leapt to her feet to greet her. When Estella caught sight of Merry and Pippin just outside her window she ducked out of view.  
  
"Diamond! What do think you're doing? If my mother sees two lads outside my window..." she trailed off, uncertain. Diamond smiled.  
  
"Merry has a question he has to ask you." she replied. She pulled Merry up to the window and turned away, for what little privacy could be given. Estella watched Diamond turn around to give her silent pointers. When Merry asked her if she was going to the Autumn Sostice party she nodded and when he asked her who she was going with Diamond mouthed, "no one" for her to say. So, Merry was set up to go with Estella Bolger for the party. As he was saying goodbye, Pippin crept up behind him and gave her his own pointer. He kissed air and pointed to his cheek and Merry at the same time then clapped his hands together silently in a pleading manner. Estella frowned and blushed. Both Diamond and Pippin turned away in time to hear Merry stop talking and the window close.   
  
"Well. Look who's red as a beet now." Diamond exclaimed, grinning at Merry. His face was very red as he examined the dirt under the window sill.  
  
"Told you so!" Pippin crowed. Merry looked up at him and growled.  
  
"You told her to! Didn't you?" He cried to his cousin, reddening more every second.  
  
"Depends on what she did." Pippin said testily. Merry blushed but glared at Diamond, Pippin knew he was right then.  
  
"Lo and behold, I do believe you just got a kiss from our very own Estella!" Diamond said. Merry grunted and began to head back towards Pippin's house when he cried out to him.  
  
"Revenge is sweet, Meriadoc, you said it yourself." and Merry knew he was right. 


	6. Thinking Hurts

Author's Note: I should've known that the reviewing wouldn't last. Wah! And for all you out there who are giving me that "no more hair-flipping" crap, I really didn't see it that way. She was supposed to be doing that for emphasis on the word, NOON but I guess I can't do that in fear of my head being bitten off...  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Six  
Merry slouched into the field just outside the pond. A few sleepy ripples made way to the shore, a clue to the life it hid. Fish were playing frenzied games of tag and hide and seek. Merry's reflection was distorted as the wind blew the water away, sighing an age old sigh. Life was beginning to reach it's peak, then it would spiral into the death of winter. Estella was the only thing on Merry's mind as he looked at the muddy brown waters and pondered. Soon Merry knew what he had to do. He stood up from the shady spot under the big leafy tree where Diamond always hid her vegetable pilferings. He smiled and pulled an apple out of the crook, shaking his head he bit into it and left.  
  
(A/N: Diamond's POV.)  
  
Life would go on I suppose. I mean, but a night ago it seemed as if all movement on earth would cease if I couldn't run outside, free as an eagle with my friends at my sides. Then there was him. Pippin is like no other. He gives me chances when I don't deserve more. He saved my life when it was my own folly to swim when I knew I could not. He is more than a friend now, but life will go on without him. The reasoning behind this is unfound by me. My eyes stare dumbly at the pond as I wait for Nob's hand to grab my neck and drag me off to pack more of our "precious" belongings. I know someone else is across the pond, but our eyes will not meet, I have no curiousity, it has died.  
  
My excitement has died as well. I know not why I do not skip for joy, Pippin is taking me to the Autumn Solstice party. No matter, I am just depressed. I hope.  
  
(A/N: Back to normal.)  
  
Merry walked to Pippin's bedroom and smiled. He was laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling with a look of confusion. The window of his room was wide open, the breeze blowing his stray curls about his face, tickling his nose. He brushed the hair off his face and looked up at Merry, who was leaning on the doorframe. He looked old, like he'd already seen too much.  
  
"We're not so young anymore, Pip." he commented. Pippin snorted, his parents still saw him as a child, does not everyone? ~Diamond doesn't.~ his mind chattered. Pippin let the thoughts play in his mind as they began to run rampant. ~She sees you as a sophisticated adult. Now if only you could PROVE to her that your sole purpose in life is not to steal mushrooms, but to be a valiant warrior, you would REALLY impress her. Every lass yearns for a lad who is strong at heart as well as world renowned.~ it continued to instruct him on what needed to be done. He listened, wondering if hearing voices in one's head was a bad thing. He shook his head and let his eyes refocus.   
  
"Merry, I just don't know what to do anymore. I know I'm gonna miss her, but she's changing, and I'm not." he fretted. "She's becoming more mature and I'm still plain old Pippin." he worried his lip and drew his brows together. "I need to become mature, and fast." he confided in Merry. Merry smiled and crossed his arms.  
  
"I know who can teach you how to drive the lasses crazy." he said demonically. He led Pippin to a well known house in the area. When Pippin recognized the house he grinned.  
  
"Of course! Frodo has all the girls after him, he could teach me!" he was excited as he bounded up the path to see his dear old cousin, Frodo. Bilbo yanked the door open and grunted.  
  
"Hello Peregrin, Meriadoc, what's the scheme today?" he asked with a shadow of a smile. Pippin grinned and shuffled his feet.  
  
"No scheming, just a word with your nephew." Merry said. Bilbo grunted again and led them to the living room. Frodo was bent over a book, reading rather quickly and eating some sort of bread. He didn't even look up as they entered.  
  
"Hello there! Just a moment." he said, turning a page. A minute or two later he pressed a large leaf into the books pages and slammed it shut.   
  
"Just reading a bit of Chorlius Miraborear." he explained. (A/N: o_O I organized random vowels and consonants, and whoa! I get the Shakespeare of the Shire!) Merry and Pippin just blinked and stared.  
  
"I'm sorry, who?" Pippin asked, knowing he should know this author. Frodo laughed quietly.  
  
"Don't concern yourself with these matters. Now, what of this insistance on seeing me at once?" he inquired. Pippin observed his feet again, cursing his family gene for ingrown toe-nails. (A/N: I stole that from another fanfic, which one I can't remember...)  
  
"Pippin has this crazy sheme, but not one to get you in trouble." Merry caught himself as Bilbo frowned in the backround.   
  
"That's what you said when you insisted that Frodo and Samwise help you and Pippin steal Gandalf's staff. I don't know if Pearl has regrown her eyebrows yet." Bilbo said thoughtfully. Frodo winced and rubbed a scar on his wrist. A reminder of why never to point a powerful magical object at anyone, including yourself.  
  
"Seemed like a good idea at the time." Pippin muttered. Bilbo laughed and began to leave.  
  
"I'm not even going to listen! I just know I'll regret it later!" he shouted over his shoulder, shuffling off down the narrow corridor. Pippin let out a sigh of relief at seeing Frodo's Uncle go.  
  
"You need to teach me how to act like you." Pippin gushed. Merry frowned.  
  
"Now Pippin, if Diamond wanted someone exactly like Frodo, she'd be going out with Frodo!" Merry exclaimed.  
  
"True." Pippin said thoughtfully. "But I need some pointers on how to be more mature!" he whined. Frodo laughed and shook his head.  
  
"You need to lock yourself in a room and force yourself to forget about Diamond, Pippin. She's leaving." he smiled and shook his head again. Pippin's mouth dropped open, Merry just gaped.  
  
"How did you know?" sputtered Pippin, thinking the worse. Frodo looked at his red face and dropped his amused smile at once.  
  
"I am friends with Nob, he told me. He told me Diamond is acting strangely and that you two came over today. Made her depression worse I do believe. I'll tell you this, Pippin, if you venture out to Long Cleeve to see your dear Diamond, you'll have to battle through Nob of Long Cleeve first." Frodo said sternly. He picked up his book again.   
  
"Is that all?" he asked hopefully. Pippin grumbled and nodded. Merry pushed him out the door smiling weakly at Bilbo on his way out.  
  
"Come on, let's go." he said to Pippin. Pippin watched the door swing shut behind him with a bang. He was in deep thought as he ran up to his cousin who was waiting at the bottom of the hill with an annoyed expression.  
  
"You know, I think we need to get ready for the party. Then we need to plan one of our own." he hinted. Merry grinned and slapped Pippin on the back.  
  
"Now you're thinking! One question, does it hurt?" Merry asked. Pippin stopped and frowned then he growled and chased Merry all the way back to his hole. 


	7. Invitation to Yet ANOTHER Party

Author's Note: Okay, moving kinda slow these days, running out of ideas. Anyway, if y'all out there can't handle waiting for the next chapter, you could go read my other story, Judgement. *Ducks as several paper balls are heaved at her* OKAY! It was just a suggestion. It now has a sequel. *Brick knocks her out.*   
Audience: YAY!   
Carmen: WAIT! I apologize for blowing up last chapter, I was stressed out and- *Tied up and stuffed in a sack*  
  
Pippin's First Love Seven  
  
Pippin and Diamond were content not to set foot on the dancefloor all night. They just sat on the sidelines, holding hands and talking. Merry and Estella were having a good time across the field by the pond, watching Gandalf's fireworks. They weren't the only ones there, but it felt like it. The bright greens and vibrant blues were mingling in the sky like a giant rainbow. As the crowd oohed, and aahed, Merry and Estella just watched and smiled.  
  
After the dance, everyone was walking everyone home but the four, Merry, Pippin, Estella, and Diamond. They sat in a circle, waiting for the inevitable. Sure enough, one of their parents rushed over and insisted they go home, this instant. Estella blushed and apologized for her mother, but they all went home. The walk home was uneventful and depressing but Diamond made it to her door to find all of her sisters home safe and sound. Diamond looked out to the full moon and had the strange urge to howl, just to be weird. She had those urges a lot. Just to be weird and different she'd dance for no reason in the market-place, or catch frogs and put them down the snobby girls dresses.   
  
She took off her dress and threw it in a corner. As she slipped between the cool sheets on the floor of her bare room, she thanked the ceiling that she had her own room at all.  
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"Right, so I'm supposed to get her to come over how?" Frodo asked his younger cousin. Merry looked around nervously and continued to whisper.  
  
"Nob likes you more than Pippin or me, so you'll just invite her to your backyard for a going-away-party. She'll be allowed to come." Merry explained.  
  
"Right." Frodo responded with a shake of his head. Merry clasped his hands together and fell to his knees.  
  
"PLEASE FRODO! Pippin will absolutely fall apart!" he wailed. Frodo hauled Merry to his feet and looked around nervously as several marketeers looked with mild interest.  
  
"All right!" Frodo cried exasperatedly. Merry cheered and turned and left as if they had simply met on the street. Frodo shook his head and walked towards the home of Diamond and Nob, praying to whomever was listening.  
  
Nob was watching curiously as Frodo skipped up the steps of his porch and smiled jubilantly at him and the twelve others on the small attachment of the house. Frodo ignored the pain as several small children ran over and began to pull on his clothes and kick his legs impatiently.  
  
"Hello Frodo. What brings you here this lovely night?" Nob asked pleasantly. Frodo sighed in relief as Diamond peeled young Mirabella off his left trouser leg.  
  
"Actually, I was going to say that Estella Bolger and uh, Rosie Cotton were arranging a party for the miss here," Frodo indicated Diamond. "if she can turn up in my backyard tonight." he left off, hoping for an answer.  
  
"I guess she can go, Matteus and I can watch the others." Nob said reluctantly. Frodo let his cheer die in his throat as Diamond suspiciously rose to her feet and looked over Frodo's shoulder. Merry and Pippin dove off the road into a pile of dead weeds from the Chubb's garden. She saw them, and smiled as she ran inside to put her book away. It was a good one, Chorlius Miraborear. (A/N: MWAHAHAHA!)  
  
"Thank you Nob!" she shouted over her shoulder as she gathered her hair messily into a ball on top of her head and clipped it. Her small curly tendrils framed her face and neck. She smiled at her reflection as she passed under a mirror that hadn't been moved out to Long Cleeve yet. She caught a glance of their near empty kitchen and felt her throat seize up. Her eyes hurt as she walked out of the wide open door of her house, looking for her escort. Frodo held out his arm jokingly, Diamond, seeing Pippin and Merry trying to sneak away unsuccessfully, took it swooningly. She could almost hear Pippin growl at Frodo from his stance covered in weeds.  
  
"Well, shall you tell me who else will be at this party?" Diamond asked, breaking the ice. Frodo looked at her arduously.  
  
"What? You haven't figgered it out yet?" he asked, amused. She looked flabbergasted.  
  
"Of course I haven't! I'm just a young, naive little girly hobbit!" she replied. Frodo laughed, a sound that hadn't been heard for quite a while.  
  
"Diamond, acting like a girl? You still wear breeches under your dresses for the Shire's sake!" Frodo cried. Diamond smiled, her throat opening.  
  
"All right, Master Baggins, you win." she stopped and unlaced the breeches. She then pulled her dress over her legs and pulled off the breeches. Diamond laughed as Frodo looked on, terrified. She threw the breeches in his face and waited expectantly. Frodo simply handed her the boys clothes with a shake of his head and a smile.  
  
"Diamond, I do believe you will regret that." he muttered. She stopped again and placed her hands on her hips.  
  
"Oh I will? Why is that?" she asked defiantly. He simply pointed to the roadside shadows which had been following them since they left her house. Merry and Pippin launched out of the shade with a laugh. Diamond decided Frodo was right as she tried to keep her dress from flying up in the back as she raced the two lads to Frodo's yard. Frodo arrived moments after Merry won the race, a smile gracing his lips, making him look like an amused parent.  
  
"Now, let the festivities begin!" he cried as Rosie, Estella, and Bilbo walked out from his hole. 


	8. Of Promises and Promise Rings

Authors Note: Bah. Screw it. Wait! I want to say something to LadyKnight30! Yes I do keep my Return of the King book handy in case I need a feminine hobbit name! I did make up Matteus and Chorlius Mirab-what's his name though.   
Disclaimer: LOVE IS IN THE AIR! WHOO! Everyone in all my fics are getting married, I think. Okay, two of them. Spring, a time when young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love, awww!  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Eight  
Live music would've been the best, but it was a spur of the moment type party so Frodo and Bilbo sang some songs that Bilbo had written. Diamond was thrilled and very giddy. You woudn't have guessed by her giggles and laughs that she was moving away tomorrow afternoon. Frodo's smile fell. Poor Pippin...  
  
"Tag!" cried Rosie, punching Diamond lightly on the arm and skittering away. Diamond reached out and touched Merry's arm and darted away. It was like a chain-reaction as Merry tagged Pippin and Pippin tagged Estella. Hours of relentless play ensued as the sun began to set on the fields out yonder. Diamond sneered at the fields  
  
"I'll be seeing ya more closely tomorrow! HUMPH!" she kicked the ground angrily and crossed her arms on her chest. Merry frowned and tried to say something when Pippin said one of the most grown-up things in his life.  
  
"Come now, Diamond! You're almost a grown girl! Can't be more than a few years before your able to move out here by yerself!" he chided. She smiled at him weakly.  
  
"Pip. I'm seventeen. I've gotta wait quite a while before Nob lets me outside the farmhouse even!" she pouted again and stuck out her lower lip. Pippin shook his head.  
  
"Well, I guess I'll walk ya home then." he muttered. Merry gaped open mouthed as he led her homeward bound, arm in arm.  
  
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but is he taken with her?" Bilbo asked aloud to anyone who happened to be listening. Every head turned towards him.  
  
"NO!" Merry said sarcastically.  
  
"And she's definetly not taken with him." Frodo added, also sarcastic. Bilbo rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He smiled at the hobbits and waved a hand to them.  
  
"Come, I have an idea!" he called to them. They followed him into the hole, curious but cautious. He opened a small box and pulled out a diamond and amethyst ring. The gold trim glittered and shone but the amethyst really stood out, just a heart-shaped cut in the center of the diamond oval.   
  
"That was his grandmother's, wasn't it?" Frodo asked sullenly. Bilbo nodded gravely and turned away from his treasure box. He snapped the lid shut and turned to them all, a wild look in his eye. The look left him as suddenly as it came, and he looked frightened.  
  
"Well. I believe we owe it to young Peregrin to give him this ring. In case he has things to do with it." Bilbo suggested. They all gaped at Frodo and his uncle who looked pleased with themselves.  
  
"You're kidding, right? Pippin is nineteen years old. Even if his parents thought it right, Nob would never let that happen so soon!" Rosie said, flabbergasted.  
  
"Not marraige, maybe a promise though." Frodo said thoughtfully. Estella smiled widely and looked at Rosie.  
  
"There ya go, Rose! A promise ring! When she moves out, she's bound to him, it's brilliant." she gushed. Rosie nodded enthusiastically and took the ring from Bilbo.   
  
"We'll give it to Pippin, and if need be, we'll deliver it to Diamond, even if she is in Long Cleeve!" Rosie said vehemently. Bilbo nodded and gestured that they'd better get going. As if on cue, Pippin skulked around the corner and noticed the stealthy way Rosie and Estella were walking about. He blinked painfully against his new black eye. Diamond was horrified, Nob was drunk, Pippin accepted it. It was no big deal, he'd had worse.  
  
Estella and Rosie gasped at Pippin's new eyewear and rushed over to him.   
  
"Pippin! What happened?" Estella cried, brushing his hair out of her face and examining the black eye.  
  
"Nothing, just met a drunk on the road." he lied. They glared down the road, as if they could see the drunk and then Rosie pressed a small ring into his hand. Pippin stared at it, making his eye throb.  
  
"What is it?" he asked Rosie. She looked around once more, to check if anyone was listening.  
  
"It was your Grandmother's ring. Bilbo's been keeping it but he wants you to give it to Diamond. Don't fret Pip, it's a Promise Ring." she explained. Pippin's eyes lit up and he clenched his fist around the ring and took off at a run down the road.  
  
Diamond was asleep in her room, barely. She had locked her door using all three locks. Then she had snuck out and locked the girls' room door using the four locks it had. The locks had been installed shortly after their parents died, Nob and some of his friends would go out and get drunk, and Nob would come home and use Diamond or one of the girls as a punching bag. The guys could fend for themselves so she didn't bother unlocking her door to go find them and see if they were all right. A steady but urgent tap on her window awoke her. She glared at her pocketwatch and looked into the window. Pippin's head peered over the ledge, he waved for her to open it. She swung the window open and looked at Pippin who was hidden behind a bush outside her window.  
  
"Listen, I hafta git home but, here, this is a promise." he whispered and pushed the ring into her hand and skittered away from the window, looking both ways before sprinting to the street and running for home. She looked at the ring in her hand and smiled. This makes it final. 


	9. Leg One of the Journey, Nob's Drunk

Author's Note: Okay! I decided, "Maybe fanfiction needs some attention, eh?" because I've been working nonstop on my Original Fiction on Fiction Press. Happy Easter!  
Disclaimer: Ever hear of Monty Python? Yeah well I'll give a Pippin Plushie to anyone who can tell me what all the guys think of Immanuel Kant. WHOO!  
Pippin's First Love Chapter Nine  
At first, Diamond didn't know what to do with the ring. Surely if she wore it on her finger properly, Nob would be angry and that would be the last time she saw it or Pippin. Or both! She clutched the ring closer and looked nervously to the rising sun, folding her blankets half-heartedly. A booming knock echoed on her door as Diamond clasped her gold necklace to her neck.   
  
"OUT!" Nob yelled thickly and moved on to the next door. Diamond leapt out of her window and into her sister's before Nob's hungover steps could reach them. Leaping to the door, Diamond undid the locks and jumped out of the window as her sisters woke up. She heard him say a sluggish good morning and then he was off to wake up Matteus and the others. With a sigh Diamond opened her door and looked about the near empty house. She felt a hand bury into her hair softly and pull her out of the way. Matteus grinned stupidly at her and yanked her hair again. Diamond toppled to the floor silently, hoping that his swimming sight wouldn't see her there. Matteus groaned softly and leaned on the wall, leaning over Diamond he frowned.  
  
"Diamond, what're you doing on the floor?" he asked, cleary confused and hungover. Diamond skittered clear of him as he passed out noisily onto the floor, fast asleep.  
  
"Behemoth!" she spat and gently kicked her brother, feeling tears. With a snort and ferocious shake of her head, Diamond helped her sisters to the cart gingerly and then loaded their meager possesions. Looking skeptically at the sleeping figure of her older brother, Diamond poked him with her foot. Matteus groaned and rolled over softly with his eyes fluttering.   
  
" I-is it t-t-time to go now, Diamond?" he stuttered, trying to blink his bloodshot eyes clear.   
  
"Indeed, dear brother, let's go. Come on, I'll help." she assured and let him lean on her shoulders for balance. With a gentle push, Matteus fell into the back of the cart, asleep again. Mirabella looked at Matteus, frightened by his inability to stay awake.  
  
"He didn't catch what Mamma had, did he?" she prodded him with her foot. Diamond looked at Matteus's sleeping form and sighed.  
  
"Naw, Mirabella, he's just caught ale and wine. Mamma had a sickness." she said bitterly. Mirabella put her head down softly and bit her lip.  
  
"I wish that we weren't moving." she whispered. Diamond felt another tear slide down her cheek. With another furious shake of her head, the single tear flew off her face and out of her sight.  
  
"So do I, little one, so do I." she hugged her sister and watched the sun rise over the trees in the Old Forest. Diamond cautiously pulled the ring from her pocket and undid her necklace. She attached the ring to the plain chain she normally wore. Smiling at the glittering jewels, Diamond climbed to the front and looked to Nob who was nearly asleep again. He handed her the reins to the ponies pulling their cart without a word. With a gentle slap with the reins, Diamond put the animals in motion. Every clap of the ponies' hooves on the dusty road made Diamond's throat choke up even more. When they had finally made it clear of Hobbiton, Diamond let Nob take the reins again so that she could sit in the back. She laughed bitterly as the river babbled under the bridge they crossed, earning several odd looks for her behavior. She looked at the house they passed, a young hobbit stood blearily outside the house, beating on the door sleepily. He set his various packs down and shouldered the door gently before setting himself on his largest pack and laughing. He looked up and saw Diamond on the cart, sitting so carefully, a gentle breeze would've blown her off the cart. Diamond gaped, pulling on the older hobbit's shoulders impatiently. The cart rolled to a stop as they began second breakfast, right in the road. Diamond slid off the cart silently and walked over to the young hobbit seated outside his house. Merry gaped as she neared with a grin.  
  
"What're you doing, stranger?" she asked sarcastically. Merry felt a smile tug at his face as she looked at his bags.  
  
"Moving back in. Pippin's in trouble. Again." Merry shook his head slowly, still half-asleep from riding in the back of Farmer Maggot's chicken cart until he tried to cross the bridge.  
  
"Oh dear, not because of me I hope!" Diamond joked, trying to lighten her own mood. Merry smiled and reached up to touch her hand when he spotted the ring hanging from the chain. He seized the ring and pulled her down next to him, looking the ring over.  
  
"Diamond, you could get that boy in trouble just looking at him." Merry said distractedly. Diamond shifted uncomfortably as Merry fingered the ring in awe of what Pippin had done. He looked up into her nervous eyes and smiled, letting the ring drop.  
  
"We're going to have to be going pretty soon." Diamond didn't like the look in Merry's eye. He looked at her form, in a plain blue dress so she wouldn't have to change for the ceremony when they moved in. Family was coming from all over Long Cleeve to celebrate their return.  
  
"So you will. You'll be missed, you do know that?" he asked, playing with her hair and whispering. Diamond shuddered softly and looked at Merry questionably as he continued to play with her curls.  
  
"I should hope I wasn't enough of a jerk to ensure my friends' happiness I have gone." Diamond tried to scoot away from the young hobbit. He let her hair go and looked at her shaking hand, which until a second ago had hovered, ready to hit his hands away. He smiled again and looked at the bronze comb in her hair, holding it off her face. A dragonfly was etched into the bronze lightly, as if by magic. Merry shook his head sharply and looked at his feet.   
  
"Whereas I was enough of a jerk to have my own Uncle send me on my way." Merry whispered bitterly. Diamond sighed in relief as he tore his gaze from her. She looked at his pathetic attempt to break the lock on the door and snorted.  
  
"Come now, you weren't a jerk, Pippin was in trouble. No fun for you when your cousin is in trouble." she punched his arm lightly and smiled. Merry smiled and looked up from his feet to the cart just around the bend in the road.  
  
"No fun when Uncle Paladin is yelling every night about the reasons we're late. He seems to think we're nasty little hobbits with too much in mind already." Merry laughed bitterly again and folded his hands in his lap. Diamond had half a mind to scream and tell him he'd practically molested her in front of his own house, but she didn't want to make an ordeal of that brief look he'd given her.  
  
"I know about screaming." she pointed a finger to the cart. "Used to be Nob home every once and a while, drunk enough to think we were defying him. Now it's Matteus too, depressed and sobbing when he gets home with Nob. Then the hitting" she whispered and looked at her bruises as if to assure herself that's what was happening. Merry put an arm on her shoulder and looked at her wrists, bruised and bloody marks all over them. She tugged her light jacket back over them and looked up into Merry's eyes. "For the first time in my life, I'm really scared for my family. We're moving out a secluded farmhouse. Merry I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm scared." she let another tear fall onto her cheek as Merry looked into her flooding eyes with sympathy.  
  
"Bravest people I know are scared for the ones they love. If you ever need a place to stay, you know where I live." Merry gestured to the house behind him with a smile. Diamond smiled through her tears and let her head drop onto his shoulder softly. She heard Rosie scream loudly and jump off the cart. With a jump Diamond sat up and looked at the cart. Mirabella and Rosie clutched at each other like rag dolls as Nob towered over them. Diamond opened her mouth to scream when Merry leapt up and sprinted to the road. He pulled the young girls into his arms and ran to the shrubs off the edge of the road. Nob grumbled softly and plunged a drunken hand into the bushes. Merry snuck around the backside of the shrubs, still holding the terriefied girls in his hands. Diamond stood and took her younger sisters from Merry's hands as he quietly walked up his pathway.   
  
"What now?" Diamond fretted. She held her sobbing sisters to her chest as Nob blundered away down in the bushes ferverently. Merry beat on the door long and hard now. Finally a bleary-eyed woman yanked the door open and upon seeing Merry looking nervously towards the road and Diamond holding two young girls by Merry's side, she stumbled slightly.  
  
"What? Who's this? What's going on?" the woman asked her son. Merry shushed her softly and pulled Diamond inside.   
  
"Mum, this is Diamond." he tried to think what to say when his mother pointed a shaking finger at the two young girls in her hands.  
  
"And who's are those?" she asked. Diamond laughed and placed the shaking girls on the floor.  
  
"These are my sisters." she assured Merry's mother. Merry took her arm and led his mother to the kitchen, looking for something.  
  
"Where is the Harbosia plant?" he asked irritably. His mother narrowed her eyes and raised a suspicious eyebrow.  
  
"In that cupboard there, why?" she asked. Merry handed it to Diamond and looked up to his wall clock in alarm. (A/N: Pun not intended. o_O)  
  
"Diamond needs it for her brother." Merry said without real concern if that made sense. "Even a drunk man will figure it out soon, okay. I need you to go out there and throw some of this in his face. Not too much or he'll hurt himself. This'll sober him up." he explained. Not bothering to ask why they had such a plant in their house, Diamond opened the door and walked out calmly. Nob was stumbling up the path in a frenzy.  
  
"Where are th-they? I'll kill them for running away." Nob hiccuped several times before continuing. Diamond walked up to her brother fearlessly as he grabbed her throat and squeezed. Diamond heard herself choking back pain as she fumbled for the packet of herbs.  
  
"Put me down!" she choked out as Nob shook her gently. Nob's bloodshot eyes slid in and out of focus as he looked at Diamond. First she looked like their mother, then she was herself. His eyes narrowed as she found the packet in her pocket, she pulled them out and thrust a handful in his face with some skepticism. Nob bellowed and dropped Diamond, clawing at his nose madly. He inhaled more and more of the plant before falling his knees in pain. Diamond looked horrified as Nob whimpered at her feet.  
  
"Diamond?" he asked suddenly, looking up into her terrified eyes and seeing disbelief. "What happened?" he looked at her bruising throat. Merry pulled the door open gingerly and looked relieved as Diamond helped her brother to his feet.  
  
"You were still drunk. You chased Rosie and Mirabella. You tried to hurt them again, Nob." she sounded much too mature for her age as she took charge of her older brother. He looked horrified with himself as Rosie and Mirabella buried their faces into Merry's mother's dress.  
  
"I'm so sorry! I'll never do it again, I swear." he began to weep uncontrollably. Diamond shook Nob softly and then slapped his cheek softly.  
  
"You promised that last time." she brandished her wrists to her brother. "I had to lock you out of the hole." she sounded weary. Nob put his face in his hands and walked to the cart somberly as Diamond took her sisters' hands.  
  
"I'm worried about you." Merry's mother confessed to Diamond as she assured her sisters that Nob's monster had left him.  
  
"So am I." Diamond whispered. 


	10. Manicwhat?

Author's Note: Wow, I haven't updated in forever! I've been a busy girl with my Original Fiction again. Well, not that you care about that, so here you go!  
  
Pippin's First Love, Chapter Ten  
  
Diamond watched wearily as she felt Nob shift to her left. She held his hands to his sides and waited for him to move again. The hard wood floor of their new farmhouse was uncomfortable, but Diamond wasn't about to let Nob go get drunk at the pub his first night there. She fingered the ring she'd now placed on her finger, no one was going to tell her otherwise. She smiled, feeling like Pippin was in the room, smiling at her and just existing. She shook her head briskly, letting her smile drift off her face as Nob tried to roll away from her. She kicked him gently.  
  
"Go to sleep, Nob." she said dangerously. He groaned and settled down again, falling into a light doze. Diamond felt the wave of uneasiness sweep over her, her heart stopped pounding, she fell asleep.  
  
Pippin walked out of his hole, looking around the sunny road angrily. He kicked a rock in the road and curled his lip, he didn't want anything happy going on today. Merry had left, and now Diamond was gone. He felt like screaming at the world, like hurting something. He looked at the rubbish pile in the corner of his mother's garden, a broken mirror lay on the pile. He picked up a piece and looked at it wonderingly. He carefully pulled the sharp edge across this arm, watching a trail of blood follow. He cut another through it, enjoying the pain that let him forget about Diamond. He cut a diagnal and let his arm bleed. He bandaged it with a torn piece of his shirt, then he pocketed the mirror, in case he needed it. He didn't care what his parents would say, he didn't need that crap now.  
  
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"One whole year, and we haven't had a harvest?" Diamond panted, bent over her hoe. "What's with that?" she scowled at Nob. His eyes darted around the field, looking for more weeds.  
  
"Nasty things out and about, no one's up to traveling." he shrugged. Diamond struggled not to roll her eyes as Nob seriously returned to his work. It had been six years since they'd moved away, five since she'd seen Pippin last. And he'd been acting mighty strange when she saw him. Happy to see her, but fragile and clingy.  
  
"Am I still allowed to leave for Hobbiton this weekend with Mirabella and Rosa?" Diamond didn't press her luck. Nob wiped his brow and frowned.  
  
"I suppose. Where else are we to get pipe weed?" he smiled. Diamond's heart fluttered in delight at her departure.   
  
"We leave tomorrow then?" she clarified. Nob nodded sullenly, pulling his hoe through the dirt.  
  
"S'pose." he muttered. Diamond knew that reproachful sound anywhere.  
  
"I'm twenty-five now, I'll take care of my self." she assured him. Nob looked up and smiled, stopping his weeding for an instant.  
  
"It's getting hard on everyone, though. You're starting to look more 'n' more like Ma, and Matteus doesn't have pleasant memories to lean on with that." Nob reminded Diamond. Diamond didn't like the fact that everyone constantly told her she looked exactly like her mother, it was...odd. Nob threw her one more "you're growing up too fast" look before heading in for a break.  
  
Diamond left early the next morning with her two younger sisters, Mirabella and Rosa for Hobbiton. Upon nearing the Brandywine, Diamond considered stopping to look for Merry, but decided against it when Mrs. Brandybuck chased a young lass out of her potato garden with a rake. The journey back to Hobbiton was at least ten times longer than the one there, but that was philosophically because Diamond anticipated returning, whereas leaving had been terrible and drawn out.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Mirabella whined. Diamond sighed and looked at Rosa, sprawled out in the small cart behind the pony harness, fast asleep.  
  
"Yes, that's why we're still moving." Diamond remarked sarcastically. Mirabella scowled and looked around at the suburb of Hobbiton lazily.  
  
"Isn't that your boyfriend?" Rosa asked suddenly, pointing to a young boy, running from an old man with a shovel with an armful of corn. Diamond squinted to clear her vision and better see the lad's face. Her heart sank bitterly into her stomach.  
  
"No." she insisted, turning her vision to the road again. Mirabella smiled and began to bounce slightly in her seat in the hay of the cart.  
  
"Diamond's gonna get married!" she chanted. Diamond blushed and shushed her annoying sisters as they passed the Baggins' property.  
  
"Be still! We're here. Nob expects us back by Thursday, so let's make this quick." Diamond insisted, unhitching the back of their cart. Mirabella and Rosa leaped out, strechting their legs and observing the busy marketplace.   
  
"DIAMOND!" Rosie called, pushing her way through the crowd rudely. Diamond squealed in happiness and hugged her friend.  
  
"Bless your heart!" Diamond smiled and looked at Rosie with a light heart.  
  
"I know someone that needs your attention, now!" Rosie's face turned serious. Diamond furrowed her brow and looked impatiently at the marketplace.  
  
"What-the girls!" she seized her sisters' hands and allowed Rosie to pull her to the Took's hole.   
  
"Pippin's very sick. Come, see!" Rosie knocked on the door. Diamond's breath slowed, her heart beated dully as the dim door was pulled open and Paladin Took stared blearily at Diamond.  
  
"Who're you?" he asked thickly. Diamond recoiled, he was drunk.  
  
"I'm Diamond," she gulped. "Of Long Cleeve." she tossed her head back to look the older hobbit in the eye. Hope flooded the intoxicated man's eyes.  
  
"Don't just stand there, cure my boy!" he pulled her in and led her down the hallway to Pippin's door. Nervously rubbing her britches wrinkles, Diamond knocked softly and pushed the door open. Merry sat on the edge of Pippin's bed, Pippin curled at the foot of it.  
  
"Pip, what's going on? Give me the mirror, no-" Merry held his hand in Pippin's nose, open palmed. Pippin hesitantly put a broken segment of mirror in Merry's palm, giving Diamond a split second view of his scarred and bloody arms. She gasped, Merry looked up at her.  
  
"Diamond!" Merry cried, hope filtered into his eyes just like Paladin. Diamond pointed a shaking finger to Pippin's arm.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked. Merry held the broken mirror segment sadly.  
  
"I don't know what crossed his mind, but when he got depressed, he cut his arm to forget about...you." Merry said quietly. Diamond sat down lightly next to Pippin and ran a finger over his arm. Pippin's head leapt out of his arms, his bloodshot eyes scanned her face.  
  
"Merry...did an angel fall out of the sky?" he asked. Merry smiled and put a hand on Diamond's shoulder.  
  
"Depends on who's lookin'." he assured Pippin. Diamond shooed Merry out of the small room and cradled Pippin's arm.  
  
"What in the Shire were you thinking? Look at this!" she brandished his arm to his face. Pippin looked contentedly into Diamond's eyes.  
  
"It is you!" he said. Diamond smiled and was about to speak again when he seized her hand and coughed up blood onto a rag. "I do believe I've seen that ring before." he smiled. Diamond touched the edge of his face.  
  
"Dear, dear Pippin. What did you catch? Pneumonia?" she asked reproachfully. Pippin shook his head and coughed again, pulling his emaciated form to his feet.  
  
"No one knows what it is. Dr. Hallero gave it a real long name, along with Autumn Blaze Syndrome." Pippin waved his hand with a roll of his eyes. Diamond felt her throat seize up.  
  
"Was it 'Manic-depression Autumn Blaze Syndrome?'" she asked. Pippin pointed and smiled.  
  
"That was it!" he grinned. "I bet you got that from a book!" Diamond blinked slowly.  
  
"Yes. Pippin," she couldn't help but feel the least bit worried. "What was the doctor's advice?" she asked. Pippin shrugged.  
  
"Do things 'that stimulate fond memories' and 'surround yourself with people that make you happy.'" he scowled. Diamond took a hold of his hand and smiled.  
  
"Is that why Merry is here?" she asked. He shrugged and nodded.  
  
"That's why I'm glad you're here." he said happily. 


End file.
